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Handsome Ransom
| Episode list = List of The Venture Bros. episodes | Prev= Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel | Next= Perchance to Dean }} "Handsome Ransom" is the 41st episode of The Venture Bros.. Plot The Monarch is holding Hank and Dean hostage and, fed up with never being able to kill Dr. Venture, demands a $10 million ransom. Superhero Captain Sunshine barges in and attacks the cocoon-lair and flies the Monarch off to jail. The Monarch returns some time later after being released for lack of due process and finds that Captain Sunshine had returned and flew off with Hank. Captain Sunshine mistakes Hank for an orphan and hopes to replace his lost sidekick Wonder Boy (who was killed by the Monarch) with Hank. Hank originally takes to the superhero lifestyle happily. Throughout the episode an inappropriate relationship between Sunshine and Wonder Boy is implied. The assumptions are usually wrong as Captain Sunshine fails to realize what his relationship with Wonder Boy looks like to others. Dr. Venture and Sgt. Hatred show up to pay the ransom, but the Monarch, unable to fulfill Guild policy of releasing all captives, lets Dean go. Dr. Venture is also unable to pay the ransom money so the Monarch pretends he still has Hank and takes an IOU. Dr. Venture calls Master Billy Quizboy and Pete White, who have just made $10 million on a commission, to help out. Captain Sunshine meanwhile is acting overprotective towards Hank. He is immensely afraid of losing Wonder Boy again and panics easily. It is revealed that he, as well as his old superhero team, works at night as an anchor for a local news channel. Dr. Venture attempts to con the Monarch out of the ransom by shrinking Hatred into the bag of money. The plan misfires when the Monarch runs off with the money and the shrink-ray fails to enlarge Hatred in time. Hatred then remains undercover and discovers that where Hank really is, when Dr. Mrs. The Monarch tells the Monarch that he is now obligated to return Hank due to Guild rules. Both the Monarch and Dr. Venture track down Captain Sunshine's lair at night, when he is at work. Hank fends off The Monarch and a muscular #21 while Captain Sunshine sees the Monarch's flying cocoon at his home from a submitted news video. He panics, steals the station's news helicopter, and flies home. The Venture's then show up and hide as Captain Sunshine (still dressed as his alter ego) arrives. He quickly changes into costume as the Monarch falls into his "Sanctum Solarium" after falling through a chute that dressed him in Wonder Boy's costume. Unable to deal with the sight of the Monarch as Wonder Boy, he stumbles backwards. The Monarch reveals that he know Captain Sunshine has no powers at night and uses a kind of 'sunlight ray-gun' on him. This recharges Captain Sunshine's powers and he defeats the Monarch and his henchmen. After this, Hank realizes that Sunshine is using him to replace Wonder Boy, and bids the hero a heartfelt goodbye. Though not before asking him to put in a good word to Batman for him, leading to an angry Captain Sunshine to yell "get out!". Cultural references * Captain Sunshine parodies both Batman and Superman. ** Captain Sunshine is voiced by Kevin Conroy, who has voiced Batman in several animated programs. ** Captain Sunshine says "Well, you're not fighting a boy now!" and throws the Monarch at the wall. This is a reference to Action Comics #1 (the first appearance of Superman) when Superman says a similar line to a wife beating husband and throws him. ** When Hank leaves Captain Sunshine, he asks him if he can put in a good word for Batman, but this is denied. ** Captain Sunshine keeps a giant penny that the Monarch used in an attempt to kill him, the Batcave contains a giant penny that Batman took as a trophy after defeating Penny Plunderer, Two-Face also attempted to crush Batman with a giant penny. ** Captain Sunshine's alter ego Chuck Scarsdale is a journalist (television news anchor), similar to Clark Kent (a newspaper reporter). ** The memorial for Wonderboy III contains the quote "So Long, Old Chum". Adam West's Batman routinely referred to Robin as "old chum". ** Captain Sunshine's sidekick is named Wonderboy, Batman's sidekick is often referred to as the Boy Wonder. ** Captain Sunshine has a British butler named Desmond, a reference to Batman's Alfred Pennyworth. ** One of Captain Sunshine's villains remarks that he would like to tie Dean to a giant typewriter, Batman has had multiple run-ins with a giant typewriter. ** As Captain Sunshine is attacking Scorpio, Hank exclaims "Holy beating that guy's head in!". "Holy...!" is a common phrase of Robin's. ** While trying to gain access to Captain Sunshine's home, Pete White claims to be "billionaire playboy Bruce White". Batman's true identity is that of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne. ** The right half of Doctor Girlfriend is sunburned by Captain Sunshine, causing her to resemble the Batman villain Two-Face. ** Like Superman, Captain Sunshine finds a source of strength from exposure to sunlight. ** When the Monarch blasts Captain Sunshine with the ray gun, an explanatory narration similar to Ted Knight's and William Woodson's work on Super Friends is heard. ** When Hank confesses to Captain Sunshine he is not an orphan, Captain Sunshine asks if he lied about working at the circus too. This is most likely a reference to Robin, The Boy Wonder, who worked with his family of acrobats before becoming Robin. **When Dr. Venture is yelling at Dean for dressing up as Wonder Boy, he calls him a Dick which is a reference to Richard Grayson. * Robot Ghost is a reference to Vision (Marvel Comics) * Captain U.S is named after Captain America but resembles Uncle Sam from the Freedom Fighters (comics) * Captain Sunshine's "Sanctum Solarium" is presumably a reference to Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. *Captain Sunshine's mansion is modeled from the famous train station at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch; the floral clock has been replaced with a more appropriate sun dial. *The Chopper 5 commercial is a reference to a commercial for WNBC's infamous Chopper 4.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6Vf8Z2B-z0 *The superhero team that calls Captain Sunshine resembles the Freedom Fighters (comics). Connections to other episodes * It is mentioned in "Return to Spider-Skull Island" that the Monarch had #21 and #24 send the "charred remains of Wonder Boy to his beloved Captain Sunshine". The Monarch blames his breakup with Dr. Girlfriend and the resulting drinking problem for his "slaying" of Wonder Boy. * Dr. Venture's Shrink Ray makes its third appearance in the show: the first being in "Tag Sale – You're It!" and the second being "Escape to the House of Mummies Part II". * Captain Sunshine spares The Monarch a beating upon the first encounter, saying that he knows he is invulnerable. This is in reference to "Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny", where The Monarch regales Dr. Girlfriend and Truckules with a tale in which he duped Captain Sunshine into believing this. * Sergeant Hatred implies that his alcoholism was a key factor for Princess Tinyfeet leaving him. * Hatred's supposedly cured pedophilia is implied at when he learns that Master Billy Quizboy is 37-years-old. The Office of Secret Intelligence administered a shot that was supposed to rid of it in Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel. * At the end of the episode, Hank asks if Captain Sunshine can give him a reference for Batman. Hank has displayed a Batman obsession throughout the series. Production notes *One of the animation directors (Kimson Albert) gets to have a nickname inserted into his credits. For "Handsome Ransom" the credit reads Kimson "Copter 5" Albert. References Category:The Venture Bros. episodes